The United Kingdom, Germany, and France have created a new payments system to allow European businesses to trade with Iran without falling foul of U.S. sanctions.
The special purpose vehicle (SPV), called the Instrument for Supporting Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), is meant to enable companies to continue trade with Iran—though presently only for those food, pharmaceutical and medical products which are not subject to sanctions.
In a joint statement, the “E3” foreign ministers—the U.K.’s Jeremy Hunt, France’s Jean-Yves Le Drian, and Germany’s Heiko Maas—say INSTEX will function “under the highest international standards” with regards to anti-money laundering, combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), and EU and UN sanctions compliance.
The E3 expects...